The present invention relates to a flotation device, and more particularly to a floating chair which allows a user to sit in an upright position while a major portion of the user's body is disposed below the surface to the water.
The invention provides an improvement over the floating chair disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 5,885,123, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The background of the invention as set forth in this U. S. patent provides a good description of the prior art leading up to the development of the chair disclosed in the patent.
However, the patented chair structure is unsatisfactory since it suffers from a number of disadvantages. A significant problem with the patented chair structure is that it supports a user in a semi-reclining position. This position puts strain on the abdominal and frontal neck muscles of a user as he strives to keep his head up. Furthermore, the user must constantly kick his feet or tread water with his hand in order to move the chair toward a position wherein the user is more upright in the water.
The patented chair does not provide any means for adjusting the chair for users of different size, and as a result, users of different weight will not be uniformly supported by the chair. The patented chair also requires an elongated flotation member over five feet long which is difficult to store and awkward to handle. Also, the patented chair does not provide unrestricted use of a user's arms since the flotation member is disposed in the armpits of the user.
An additional problem with the patented chair is that the flotation member can slide out or move with respect to the sleeve within which it is disposed, thereby causing the chair to be unbalanced and unstable which requires the user to realign the flotation member in proper position.